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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. content — happy
  5. tube — a container
  6. rush — hurry
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. tear — to rip
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. object — a thing
  12. tube — the underground
  13. object — to protest
  14. object — an aim
  15. tear — from crying
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. content — the amount
  20. tear — from crying
  21. mine — for digging
  22. wound — an injury
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com